


Ōmagatoki

by redroseinsanity



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Because I don't know much, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Kamakura Period, Kodama! Suga, M/M, Magical Realism, Mild Angst, Not much tho, Samurai! Daichi, Slow Burn, because I can't handle sad endings, with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-12 16:24:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21479344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redroseinsanity/pseuds/redroseinsanity
Summary: In the Kamakura period, a fallen samurai undertakes a journey to pray for the mountain god’s mercy as a famine threatens his people, but instead meets an enchanting tree spirit. Daichi knows that the kodama is possibly the most dangerous being he has ever encountered, and yet, he falls.---“What if I told you that there’s a price to pay for saving your people?”“What kind of price?”“A sacrifice.”
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 62
Kudos: 136





	1. Journey (To You)

**Author's Note:**

> Posted concurrently on Tumblr in tandem with Daisuga week 2019, this is a seven part story functioning from the prompts given. 
> 
> We'll be done in 7 days!

_Ōmagatoki (逢魔時 or 大禍時) : In the darkest stage of twilight, the moment that all light disappears. According to Toriyama Sekien, it is “first "the time of meeting yōkai, yūrei, and dark creatures"; and second, "the time of great calamity".”_

Daichi's leg did not hurt. Sure, it ached a little, but it did not hurt. Not in the savage, burning way that it had when he had first gotten injured, not in the itchy, needle-like manner of the first few months of recovery and not even in that sharp stab of anguish when he had been told he would be able to walk but never run again. 

What use was a samurai if he was nothing more than a liability on the battlefield? 

The whispers of 'What a shame, to lose such a promising warrior' and 'At least he's not first born, just the third son of a powerful family', had stung more than anything. 

So no, Daichi's leg did not hurt in the slightest. 

It did protest a little when he had to balance on it to hoist himself up a particularly steep incline, but that was negligible. 

At this stage, he was more concerned about the fact that he had been walking for hours and still had not found what he had been looking for. The rocky mountain trail was slippery from the rain and so overgrown that he was half convinced that no one had ever used it before and he was just stumbling along a random path in the forested green. 

Still, it was soothing, somewhat, to be away from the stifling sympathy of the village and the masked, yet suffocating disappointment of his house. Here, all there was to contend with was cool mountain air and seemingly endless birdsong. 

Under wide, seemingly continuous canopies, Daichi felt dwarfed and yet, protected by the mammoth trees that he walked among. Despite the arduous trek, he found himself smiling slightly as he made his way through the forest, put in a good mood by the fragrance of flowers in bloom and mixed scents in the air. 

Put in stark juxtaposition with the fields on his land, Daichi was acutely aware that the forest he was in was what spring was meant to be like, rather than the jarringly yellow grass and wilted crops that his people were faced with. With this thought spurring him on, he picked up his pace, anxious to find a solution. 

Tripping over a root for what seemed like the billionth time, he caught himself, one arm flung around a tree trunk and the other hand planted in the dirt, fingers digging into gravelly soil. Bent over and struggling to find his balance, he was completely unaware of the watchful gaze that rested on him, bright eyes in the thick of trees that were keen and contemplative. 

The sun dipped low in the horizon which made the blazing orange ball seem almost level from where Daichi was on the face of the mountain, signalling that Daichi needed to make camp and soon. While Daichi was perfectly capable of fending for himself in the wilderness, there was a reason people avoided this mountain. 

The accounts passed down from elders had long become old wives' tales and yet, the people lived in fear of unnatural encounters beyond the boundaries of the Sawamura territories; where eerie singing was heard and the trees stayed green, regardless of the fact that the rest of the land was barren. 

It was for this very reason that Daichi had decided to go up and search for the mountain god's shrine, to pray for their blessings and ask for the protection of his people in the face of a devastatingly poor harvest that threatened a famine in the coming winter. 

Daichi needed to try this, and he needed this to work. 

Sweat trickled down his neck and seeped into his sensible _hitatare_ as he righted himself, patted the trunk and moved on, humming a melody that a bird had sung. 

Looking very much as though it was melting into the clouds, the sun was sinking in a pool of pink and orange when Daichi staggered through the heavy undergrowth and burst out onto the mountain's crest. 

After hours of uphill walking, he had acquired scratches across his forearms and ankles, a smear of dirt across his face from where he had wiped it after falling, and a deep, dull ache in his left leg. 

Looking back at the path he'd taken, Daichi's village seemed to be the size of his palm, almost obscured from view by the lush crowns of trees. Although he could have gone on, with his stamina honed thanks to years of training, he knew that he would probably have to settle somewhere before it got too dark. 

The faint rays of sunset curved and scattered across the tableau of the mountain, bathing the clearing that he was in with a radiant gold. 

With a sense of serenity, Daichi surveyed the surroundings, feeling a wave of calm settle over him, and immediately froze. Drawing in a breath and steeling himself, he performed the same sweep of the trees ahead. 

There. 

Near the tree that was diagonally nearest to him. Daichi frowned as he focused on something that definitely was not a tree. With one hand on the hilt of his _katana_, he set his jaw and headed to the pale green figure half-hidden behind a strong trunk.

To his surprise, the figure seemed to hesitate before moving towards him. Daichi could see bare feet treading the field, but all he could think about was the way the mystery person seemed to move lighter than the wind, drifting almost in an elegant fashion. Around them, the birdsong cut off abruptly, rendering them in stark silence save for the whistle of the breeze.

Within seconds, they were close enough to call out to each other and still, Daichi advanced. It was in that moment that the last of the sun’s dying rays decided to cast themselves on the stranger’s face, and Daichi drew up short, stunned. 

It seemed as though all of the sunset’s incandescence had been concentrated solely on illuminating a face lovelier than anything Daichi had ever seen. Luminescent skin set into brilliance with a beauty mark near his eye, sparkling hazel eyes that looked like all the colours of the forest in a single blink and lips that curved in a gentle smile. The wind flung up pale hair that caught in the sunlight like a blazing halo. 

Like a veil pulled over the land, the darkness that had been encroaching swiftly descended across the sky, as did it behind Daichi’s eyelids as his knees buckled and he crumpled to the ground where he stood with a solid thud. 

He awoke to stars and a soft voice murmuring at his side. 

“Are you alright?” 

Never before had Daichi heard a voice that sounded like wind chimes and drizzled honey at the same time. 

Scrambling into a sitting position with one hand flying to his blade, he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the dark and located the stranger a small distance away. 

“I am fine,” Daichi supplied cautiously, _it must have been the change in air or the strain of walking so long._

“Why are you here?” The stranger eased closer, the moonlight picking up a curious gleam in wide eyes.

“I come looking for a place to give offerings to the mountain god,” Daichi slowly released his _katana_ while shifting into a guarded position. 

Silence greeted that answer and Daichi was able to convince himself that he had imagined the whole thing although he could still make out the dark silhouette of the stranger, unmoving. Around them the night sounds of insects and birds seemed to hover in a muted chorus, as though they also waited in anticipation to see what the beautiful stranger had in response. 

“What makes you so certain that what you’re looking for exists?” The question was hushed, barely carrying over the stalks of grass between them to land at Daichi’s feet. 

“I am not,” Daichi’s honest answer came immediately, and he continued steadily, “I do not know if it does. But it has to. And because it has to, it will.”

He could have sworn he saw a glint of teeth in the darkness and the desire to actually see the stranger’s smile seized him. 

“And what is your name?” An amused note had found its way into the stranger’s voice.

“Sawamura Daichi,” The words were out even as Daichi recalled an old servant’s warning not to give his name so freely outside the Sawamura borders. 

“Daichi.”

In the shadowed distance between them his name was spoken like a caress, and Daichi’s ears were filled with a roaring before it dropped, the way a strong gust of wind threatens chaos then dies in an instant. 

“What else do you believe, Daichi?” Daichi found himself closing his eyes, trying to savour and memorise the exact way the stranger spoke his name. He knew there was nothing they would ask that he would not answer, not when their voice sounded like clear skies and summer sun.

“I believe that I will be able to ask the mountain god to look kindly on my village, to spare them from this poor harvest,” Daichi admitted in a low tone. 

“It is not as easy as asking and receiving, you know,” The counter lilted across the shrinking space separating them. Daichi took a deep breath, hands clenching into fists atop bent knees.

“I know, I… I have not much to give, but then again, I also have not much to lose.”

For a moment, Daichi truly thought he had said too much. He had not had such a long conversation with anyone since returning from the battlefront and in the drawn out, stagnant pause, he berated himself for being too tactless.

As he looked up, he was startled to find the stranger a handspan away, eyes flickering and expression too dark to discern. Then, so soft that Daichi almost mistook it for the whisper of the forest:

“So be it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY SOURCES ARE WIKIPEDIA I apologise if anything is wrong, please let me know if there are any glaring inaccuracies.
> 
> _Hitatare_ \- A two piece outfit consisting of a jacket top with long sleeves and hakama trouser bottoms. Originating as common people’s clothing, it later was worn by most people (especially of Daichi’s standing) in the Kamakura period. Nobility wore it to look practical while using expensive fabric so idk man, it’s like expensive streetwear in the 1200s. 
> 
> _Katana_ \- Traditional Japanese sword that was most often used by samurai.


	2. What Truth in a Wish

Daichi woke with the dawn. In the early strains of morning light, the clearing that he had decided to take a chance and fall asleep in proved to be a good choice, with a thick amount of vegetation providing ample buffer from the chilly night winds. 

As the night’s memories streamed into his consciousness, he glanced around and found that he was alone. With a wry grin, he shook his head. _A dream, after all_. 

The alluring stranger was nothing more than a figment of his exhausted mind or the result pushing his body too far after months of inactivity. Nevertheless, he shut his eyes and recalled the way his name had sounded in that musical voice, holding it the way one held a piece of candy on their tongue. 

_Daichi._

He drew a deep breath, and proceeded to banish it from his mind. 

After washing up in a stream nearby, he ate some of his rations and drank his fill before moving off, taking care to mentally mark his route lest he lose his way. 

He had no clear idea what he was looking for, but if he were to believe the stories, he would know it when he found it. A place or a landmark or _something_ that he would see, and know in his bones that it was where he ought to be paying his respects. 

By midday, he had plunged so deep into the heart of the mountain forest that he had the nagging feeling he might have gotten lost. The logical part of him demanded that he turn back and head down the mountain, go home and return to the meaningless wallowing in self-pity that he had indulged in prior to this.

But he hadn't found what he was looking for and he refused to revert to the despondent creature he had been. Daichi’s sense of duty had been unwavering even in the blur of his purposeless moping, and it had been the sense of responsibility he felt for his people that had dragged him out to practise his combat drills, to take tours to see the extent of the problem and eventually, had forced him up this very mountain. So, on he pressed, past hanging vines and gleaming blades of immaculately shaped leaves, careful not to disturb intricately constructed webs. 

In the thick of the woods, he grew increasingly uneasy as he manoeuvred across fallen logs and mossy stones. A stream trickled along in the distance and by this point, he was fairly certain he had chanced upon some kind of untouched paradise, given the surreal beauty of the scenery. 

Yet, there was a cold prickling at the back of his neck and something in his gut had his hand clasped loosely around the hilt of his katana. This place was perfect, too perfect, in fact. _Was this it?_

"Daichi?" 

Daichi whirled around, half drawing his blade as he struggled to locate the source. From the thicket, the stranger seemed to have been pulled from thin air, his figure rippling in the wind while Daichi blinked, trying to focus on him.

"It _is_ you," the stranger's hazel eyes were no less beautiful in the daylight than they had been at dusk, but they held a measure of concern and something sharper, something Daichi tried and failed to put a finger on. 

_You’re real_, Daichi thought in disbelief, his gaze flickering over a slight build clad in pale jade cloth and faltering at the same silver spun hair, dripping over his shoulders.

"What are you doing here?" The stranger asked, taking bold steps over just as he had quietly and unhesitatingly sidled up to Daichi the night before.

"I could be asking you the same question," Daichi shifted into a defensive stance, "Who are you? Why are you here?" _How is it that I have not met you sooner?_

The stranger seemed surprised, then a delighted smile lit his face and Daichi promptly forgot all the other questions he had. 

"You can call me Suga," he stopped right in front of Daichi, bringing the faint scent of cedar with him, "I am wandering, just like you."

Up close and in the light, Suga was far more beguiling than Daichi had anticipated and he groped for words or any form of coherency in his brain while valiantly attempting to recover the power of speech. 

"I am _not _wandering," he managed to say firmly, "I am searching for a specific place so I suppose you can say that I am questing."

"Well, I can tell you this is not the right place," Suga declared cheerfully, turning towards the direction he originally came from and starting off. 

When he realised that Daichi had not followed, he threw a look back and frowned. 

"Are you not coming?"

"Do you know where it is? If not, I- I am afraid I must keep going," Daichi fought down the instinctive urge to go wherever Suga did and willed his feet to stay planted where they were. 

“I know what you need and I know how to get it,” Suga flashed a winsome smile, eyes twinkling as he continued in his original direction and now, Daichi hastened to catch up, heart pounding faster than his brisk walking warranted. 

“How do you know?” Daichi asked, pulling back a branch to allow Suga to walk past it and was rewarded with a beatific curve of pale pink lips. 

“I live here,” Suga replied simply, and as if to prove it, he hopped deftly over three ridiculously uneven stones to cross a stream. 

Daichi hovered at the edge of the bank before deciding that he could clear it and took a single leap, stumbling a little as he landed on his bad leg only to catch himself and straighten quickly in a painstakingly rehearsed move. 

He looked up to see Suga watching him with a peculiar expression and instantaneously, his stomach seized. He had no use for pity, not here, not when he had undertaken this precisely to prove (to whom, he had not yet figured out) that he was nothing worth pitying. 

“I did not think there was anybody living here,” he blurted, hoping to distract Suga and feed his own curiosity at the same time. 

“Of course there is,” Suga replied off-handedly, picking up his pace and trotting confidently on, “You people down there believe differently simply because none of you have met anyone who does.”

Daichi reined in ten different rebuttals and questions on the tip of his tongue to remind himself that the logic that had guided him for the past twenty four years seemed to evaporate on this mountain. 

“But now I have,” He was unaware that he had spoken aloud until Suga whipped around to face him again, he smiled gently at Suga’s surprised look, “I’ve met you.”

He didn’t expect Suga’s face to soften into fondness, and he certainly didn’t expect his traitorous heart to fall out of beat for that moment. 

“Yes,” Suga’s eyes, growing endeared and yet, filling with an age old melancholy, looked brighter than ever, “Yes, now you’ve met me.”

Standing there in a fern coloured set of robes, Suga seemed to fit right in with the foliage they were surrounded by and Daichi could see why he constantly failed to see him until he was practically right in front of the samurai. Not for the first time, Daichi speculated on just how much of this encounter was real. For all he knew, he had accidentally tripped into the spirit realm and was doing nothing more than talking to ghosts or figments of his imagination. 

Just to be sure, he looked down at the dirt track that Suga was leading him along, eyes trailing past the hem of the cloth to where Suga was taking small but confident steps ahead. And his own gait stuttered. 

_There were no footprints_. 

Chancing a casual look back to his own tracks he saw his own sturdy shoeprints in the dirt and checking again, he ascertained that there was only one set of footprints despite there clearly being the two of them. 

He supposed he ought to be frightened or that he ought to start running away in terror, but all he felt was a calm sense of acceptance, as though a piece he had been struggling to comprehend had fallen into place and that seemed about right. 

He did not stumble again as he followed Suga, accompanied by the notion that nothing he knew held true anymore and simultaneously, that person in front of him was the truest thing he would ever know. 

“This is further from the heart of the forest,” Daichi said dumbly as he got his bearings a long hike later. Suga had guided them into another small open patch on the crest of the mountain, adjacent to where Daichi had started out. This angle afforded him both a view of his land and the spectacular stretches of mountains that lay beyond it, and Daichi winced as he was reminded of how poorly his people were doing.

“The heart of the forest is not somewhere you need to go to save your people,” Suga came to stand next to Daichi, “It is not safe for you.”

As silently as he had approached Daichi, Suga left to recline against the slanted wood of a large beech tree. 

“What if I told you that there’s a price to pay for saving your people?”

“What kind of price?” 

“A sacrifice.”

Daichi mulled over it for a brief instant although he already knew the answer. 

“Then I will pay it.”

Daichi wondered if they had arrived at the point whereby Suga would demand that he lay down his life for what he was asking. He waited but all that came was a scoff as Suga wiggled to make himself more comfortable.

“You say rash things for someone so steadfast,” Was the simple reply and Daichi let out an exhale, relieved and disappointed.

From where he stood, it was a steep dive down to the neatly fenced farming plots and village that Daichi was familiar with. Here, with the breeze toying with argon strands of Suga's hair and the sky settling into a rich blend of reds and oranges, Daichi felt far removed from his life down below. 

Not even when he was an unimaginable distance away fighting the war did he feel so far from where he called home. As he watched Suga's lids flutter closed, observed the slow inhale, the way the other man seemed to lean into the touch of the tree trunk he was resting against, he could not help but feel as though he was much closer to the sky than he was to his land. 

Guiltily, he wondered what it would be like, to keep going up, to stretch his fingers toward the horizon instead of tilting his chin downwards.

He was out of his depth, this he knew. He knew it when he was walking behind Suga and desperately wishing he could test the silkiness of that maddeningly silver hair. He knew it when he failed to get the answers he was looking for but believed that he did anyway because the voice that gave them was so enchanting. And he knew now, when the sun was setting and he had no idea what he was doing except that as long as it involved this mysterious man, he wanted to keep doing it. 

"What are you hoping for?" The question startled Daichi out of his thoughts and he turned to see Suga still with his eyes closed and head pillowed on the dark brown of the bark. 

"I'm hoping that I can find a way to feed my people, maybe a miracle so that not so many die when the winter comes," Daichi confessed in a low tone, searching in the distance for an answer he did not possess. It was the tail end of spring, but one good harvest in the summer could be his people’s salvation. 

"No, that's what you want for your people," Suga's eyes opened languidly and he focused a glittering hazel stare on the samurai. 

"What do _you_ want?" 

Daichi drew a blank. Samurai were taught to put their community and nation first. Nobody had ever asked him what he wanted before. Rather, no one had ever asked him what he wanted without having a standard answer that they expected to receive. His brows knitted as he slowly made his way over to Suga and dropped into the spot next to him. 

Around them, dragonflies lit on taller blades of grass, as though surveying the area before heading back. Daichi thought of the picture they made, Suga's light green fabric against his dark brown sensible clothes amidst the verdant field, the branches swaying overhead and the pale warmth from the fading day. 

All of a sudden he was biting back a 'You' from the tip of his tongue. _You_, he thought, with surprise and abandon, _I want to stay here with you._

Instead he cleared his throat, and pondered the question, deliberately avoiding the unnerving weight of Suga's gaze. 

"I think I would want to find peace," Daichi said more to himself than anything, "To find purpose and to be at peace with the path that life has shown me." 

He looked up to see Suga eyeing him thoughtfully, and for a cold second he imagined that the other man knew that he had not been completely truthful. 

But Suga broke into a grin, a flash of white in the dimming light. 

"Well then, Daichi, would you not say that it's peaceful here?" _With me?_ Remained unspoken, but it rang out in the evening regardless and as if on cue, the last of a flock of swallows hurtled past, racing to get back before nightfall. 

Daichi smiled, shoving the clamour of uncertainty into the far reaches of his mind, clamping down on the urgency that prodded him to find what he was looking for and go home. He could not stay in this haven for long, he could not dodge his responsibilities forever and although he knew all of that, _for now_ at least, he could linger just a little longer. 

"Yes," he gave that smile, wist swallowed only to leave a genuine, albeit bashful crinkling of his eyes, to Suga, "I would say so."


	3. High Drama

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Daichi is an over-dramatic bitch and Suga is a sucker for it

Daichi slammed through a particularly thick part of the undergrowth, felt his foot go through a hole covered by weeds and wild vegetation, and remembered to tuck his head down just in time to crash through several branches and tumble down a small mound. 

Staring up at the grey sky, thick with clouds, he let a string of curses escape his mouth. He started with cursing his leg, as he always did, then he moved on to cursing the enemies, for starting the war and forcing the deaths of so many. Then the crops, for wilting and starving his people and finally himself. 

Himself for not being fast enough to dodge that weapon without knowing it would injure him beyond repair; himself for not having anything concrete to feed his people with; himself for not being enough; and himself, for not being able to forget sparkling hazel eyes and the mischievous grin that came with it. 

Swearing as he felt the sting of fresh scrapes, he hauled himself into a sitting position. The tiny bursts of pain were a slight inconvenience compared to the way his mood had soured over the course of a day. As though in tandem with him, the sky rumbled its displeasure. 

He had awoken surrounded by crystal clear droplets of dew adorning perfectly shaped leaves and the rich scent of a treeful of blossoms, but no Suga. 

Daichi had sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, as though wiping hard enough would erase the night and return him to a twilight beside the curious being. He would trade the birds' dawn melody and the way morning light glanced off gleaming blades of grass for a chance to run a finger over the edges of Suga's _kosode_ and perhaps, perhaps hold on for more than a sunset. 

But the knowledge that his limited time ebbed away while he was here, cavorting with someone who may very well be the daydreams of a desperate mind, hovered and worried him. He loathed having to make a call, but then again neither did generals on the field want to have to decide whether to leave a portion of their men and retreat for the sake of their remaining troops. 

He knew he had to, and so he did. One more try and if he failed to find anything, he would make his offerings at the most suitable place he could find and return home. There was no point chasing flimsy tales or stumbling after dreams in the mist here if he could be of better use plowing the fields or mending tools in his lands below. 

That had been five hours ago and as much as Daichi hated to admit, he could feel his body tiring fast while his mind chanted, 'You've accomplished nothing, go home.'

By late afternoon, he found himself back where he began, where Suga had left him, and a bitter smile that was tinged with sorrow appeared. It seemed that, in the end, this seemed to be the most fitting place to make a plea, to beg for a bargain and then to say goodbye as well. 

It was quick work to get a tiny fire built from dried leaves and twigs going, and settling in front of it, Daichi made a bow. 

Drawing breath to begin, Daichi paused, reaching for the words he had carried up this mountain with him and instead, finding only Suga's honeyed voice. _What do you want?_

_You._

"I'm not sure if that will work, but certainly, by all means," Daichi's hair nearly caught fire as he jumped, retracting the instinctive motion towards his sword when he recognised the voice and, after glancing around wildly, found Suga on the lowest branch of the nearest tree. 

Daichi's heart nearly fell out of his mouth when, in a move too sudden for Daichi to even think about catching him, Suga leapt nimbly from his branch and landed lightly on the ground . 

As Suga approached, Daichi noticed the faintest strain that tightened the corners of a normally radiant smile and despite everything, a spark of worry flared amidst all the exhaustion and dread that he had been harbouring. 

He didn't miss the way the fire that had been small but stable went out in the same instant that Suga lowered himself to the ground next to Daichi. 

Unable to stop himself, words failing him and a single question burning brighter than all the others, he extended one broad palm towards Suga. 

With a bemused expression, Suga followed the progress of that single tanned hand until it touched his shoulder, withdrew slightly and then pressed a little harder, as though unable to believe that it had encountered something solid at all. 

Looking mildly mortified, Daichi snatched his hand back, cheeks stained red as Suga's eyes danced in unspoken amusement. 

"I just had to see if you were real," Daichi confessed in a mumble. Throwing his head back, Suga laughed and it sounded like the autumn rustle of leaves stirred by the wind. 

"Either way, I have to go," He continued, and Suga instantly sobered, a flash of what Daichi interpreted, hoped, was disappointment, crossed his face. 

"And your people?" Suga asked, slim fingers running over the ground that began to see dark spots as fat droplets raced towards the earth. 

"I will find some other way to feed them, perhaps see what my family has in our stores," Daichi squared his jaw, "It is our duty to them."

"So you'll give them your food if you had to?" Suga's voice raised above its usual liquid gold tones, perhaps to be heard over the beginnings of a shower or in disbelief. When Daichi made no response, "Starve yourself to feed them?"

Daichi did nothing except to tighten his jaw while the rain started to fall in earnest. 

"Why?" Daichi looked up in surprise because Suga had never raised his voice before, but now he was short of shouting as his cheeks flushed with anger, "Why do you always assign so little value to yourself?"

"My value is in what I can do, and since I'm no longer a samurai, my role is as a lord to these people, a life dedicated to them is a life well spent," Daichi's tone was even and measured as he met Suga's outraged gaze. 

"So if I told you that your harvest would be prosperous if you gave your life for it?" Suga bordered on livid as his eyes darkened and darkened still. 

"So be it," Daichi whispered, repeating one of the first things he'd ever heard Suga say. 

It wasn't until Daichi heard the creaking of wood behind him that he whirled to find a massive tree erupting from the ground and burgeoning into full size at impossible speeds. 

Before he knew it, he was slamming into the solid trunk, thick vines beside him climbing ferociously upwards, and he opened his eyes to Suga, inches away from his face and settling an inhuman weight on his chest with a single arm. 

"Sawamura Daichi, do you know what I am? I can end your life before the next drop of rain falls," Suga rasped, his eyes turning almost obsidian. 

Daichi looked at him, at the raindrops rolling down the curve of the most perfect face he had ever seen, the miniscule pearls that clung to lashes, the eyes that were foreign but enrapturing all the same, and he relaxed completely, leaving himself to be held up by that incomprehensible pressure on his breastbone. 

"To see your face before I die would be the most selfish thing I have ever wished for," Daichi murmured, brushing away a stray lock of argon that hung in Suga's face. 

Above them, the tree slowed in its growth, instead unfurling a series of heavy branches and deep green leaves. 

Daichi watched with detached fascination as Suga's eyes settled into the exact shade of the leaves that sheltered them now and waited, as Suga remained still for what felt simultaneously like a brief moment and an eternity. 

Sinking down to the grass, Suga released his hold while, heaving to push air back into his lungs, Daichi slid to follow him there. The passing storm had slowed into a drizzle and for a while, the methodical tapping of droplets hitting leaves and Daichi's breaths were the only things that resounded. 

"The first time I ever saw you," Suga began softly, "Your leg had caught on a tangle of vines and root. You could have cut yourself free but you patiently unwound yourself and left everything intact." 

As his breathing steadied, Daichi noticed the way Suga's hands trembled and he resolutely balled his hands in his robes to restrain himself from reaching over to clasp them in his. 

"It's not supposed to be like this," Suga continued, lifting tumultuous eyes that rioted with greens and browns to Daichi, "Humans are destructive and greedy, they take and take and never think of anything but themselves." 

Around them, the weak light that pierced through the dispersing clouds shivered over slick leaves and crept up to them, edging around their feet and the roots of Suga's creation. 

"But you? You give and you never seem to think of yourself and-" Suga sighed, sweeping a damp curtain of silver shot hair behind his ear and blinking away stray raindrops, "I don't understand you. I don't understand why you need to save them when they have brought this upon themselves."

"But it's important to you," He fixed Daichi with an unreadable, pensive look, "So I will tell you that your people have strayed away from remembering who is responsible for life and growth. If they begin building shrines and paying their respects to the mountain god and the gods of the harvest, they will survive the cold."

"I thought you were supposed to bargain for the conditions with me before supplying the information," Daichi could not resist from teasing gently. 

Suga's face cycled through a series of surprise, exasperation, fondness and resolute decisiveness before he smiled ruefully. 

"You’re already willing to give your life, is there not a condition that you're not amenable to?"

"True," Daichi agreed, "So what is it?"

"Stay with me."

When Daichi opened his mouth to reply, Suga's smile softened to amused affection tinged with age old melancholy. 

"I know your time is precious, humans do not have much to begin with, so all I ask is for one more day and you may return with this information."

Daichi shut his mouth and blinked, recalibrating his response. 

"You have my word," He said easily, and hesitated before asking, "Are you the mountain god?"

Suga huffed out a delicate laugh as his lashes fluttered, mirth quickly replacing the solemn atmosphere. 

"No," he exhaled, "I'm a _kodama_, a tree spirit, if you will. The mountain god is hardly present, at least, not in this realm." 

"A _kodama_," Daichi mused, wrinkling his brow, "Therefore, a _yokai_?" 

Seeing a crease appear between Suga's brows and a pout begin to form on his lips, Daichi hastily backpedaled. 

"Or more of a _yosei_?" He hazarded and Suga's face smoothened into a bright expression. 

"This is my home," he explained, "Our presence keeps it thriving. We used to walk among your fields until we began to feel unwelcome there."

"I apologise," Daichi said with genuine regret and Suga snorted. 

"Yes, I forgot that you are solely responsible for the entire world's shortcomings," He got out through a burble of laughter. 

Daichi let the bubble of amusement be buoyed up by the swell of joy and laughed for the first time in months. It started out as a subdued chuckle but grew into a full belly laugh that felt as though something was loosening in his chest and pouring itself out in his exhales. 

From beside him, Suga's eyes had turned immeasurably tender, shining as they trained on the curve of Daichi's lips, and then shadowing as the radiance was dimmed by the knowledge of sorrow anticipated. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Kosode_ \- The basic robe that many Japanese of that period wore, can be held together with an obi or belt. Originally worn as innerwear, it later became outerwear and is as simple as Japanese clothing at that time gets. 
> 
> _Kodama_ \- Technically, it’s a yokai, Suga’s just being picky. A tree spirit or a spirit who lives in a tree.
> 
> _Yokai_ \- A demon, spirit or supernatural creature in Japanese folklore
> 
> _Yosei_ \- A subset of yokai (if I’m not wrong), but more akin to fairies than demons
> 
> If anything looks inaccurate, please forgive me or correct me (preferably both)!


	4. Flowers bloom with no regret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from Hypnotised by Years & Years!

When Daichi shook off a far too vivid dream that was pervaded by Suga's laughter and smelled like cedar, he half expected to be alone. But there, in the soft glow of dawn, was Suga sitting at the edge of the mountain, unmoving save for the way his hair and clothes were tugged and teased by the wind.

He didn't seem surprised when Daichi noiselessly picked over and sat next to him, bold enough to arrange himself so that their shoulders brushed. 

They remained there until the sun was halfway through its journey to the highest point in the sky, basking in the comfortable silence and simply enjoying each other’s company. It had been a long time since Daichi was given the opportunity to just _be_, free from obligations and expectations. With Suga, Daichi was not a samurai or ‘the third son’, he was not responsible for a village’s worth of people nor the wellbeing of his family. It was folly or hopeful thinking, but it felt as though he had shed all that in layers of sweat as he climbed up the mountain. 

Shrouded by the wisps of low clouds, enveloped by the most gorgeous nature he had ever seen, with Suga by his side, he was simply Daichi. He wasn’t entirely sure who that was, but he found that he quite liked who he was in the company of the _kodama_. 

The late morning had them seeking shade from the leafy branches of the massive tree that Suga had created, while Suga taught Daichi how to weave long stemmed buds into circlets and other adornments. 

“Oh, look,” Suga had said upon noticing the abundance of blossoms littered around them, “Gifts!”

Daichi had tried to respond but any words had failed when he caught sight of a tree resplendent with flowers in full bloom, petals drifting in the wind and a carpet of pinks and greens.

He had stepped out of the night into a dream held in the palm of Suga’s hand, and he discovered, with regret and alarm, that he did not want to wake.

Having Suga’s breath brush his cheek as he explained and a cool pair of hands to guide him was distracting to say the least and Daichi fought to focus on what Suga was teaching him. He would follow Suga’s lips as he spoke only to realise he had completely missed the steps; lose himself in the way Suga’s fingers moved, nimble and sure; begin to understand only to forget it all the moment Suga’s laugh pealed. 

Thankfully he was able to cotton on relatively quickly, mimicking Suga’s motions and relying on the keywords that filtered through the disjointed clutter in his mind. Before long, he was producing dainty chains studded with little blossoms and he proudly displayed them to Suga, earning an approving nod. 

"Now try braiding them into hair," Suga instructed and Daichi nodded his assent without considering the implications of that statement.

He stilled when he felt something warm drop into his lap. Looking down, he froze completely as Suga smiled up at him from where he was making himself comfortable on Daichi's thigh. His carefree expression indicated that he was clearly unaware of the way Daichi's heart rate had sped up to a thunderous pace the moment Suga's head had landed on the rough cloth of Daichi's lap. 

With hands that trembled faintly, he picked up a section of woven flowers and, forcing his hands to steady, he collected a section of pale grey hair and began to braid them all together. 

Suga's hair was smooth but after encountering several tangles, Daichi abandoned the initial task at hand to gingerly comb through the knots with his calloused fingers. As Daichi gently worked out the tangles, Suga let out a soft sigh, his eyes drifting shut as a peaceful smile found its way onto his lips. 

"You're better at this than I thought you would be," His voice, languid and intimate, nearly had Daichi dropping the flowers that he had been preparing to weave in. 

"I have a little sister," Daichi told him, amazed that he managed to keep his tone even, "She likes braiding ribbons into her hair. When I left for the war, I gave her a boxful of ribbons and told her I would use them all with her when I came back." 

A tiny chuckle escaped Suga as he pried his eyes open to fix Daichi with a look. 

"And did you?" 

"I did," Daichi assured him, it had been the one thing that had kept him grounded as he grappled with the knowledge that he'd never fight as a samurai again. 

"Is this thing," Suga visibly struggled to locate the right words, "Is it common? Where you come from?"

"Is what common?" Daichi repeated, mildly baffled. 

"Keeping promises; making vows and seeing them through," Suga's face was open and inquisitive, framed by strewn locks of argon that overflowed off Daichi's lap and furled around flower stems. 

Daichi considered the question, fingers deftly finishing this braid and already reaching for the next hank of hair. 

"It depends," he conceded at last, "They're meant to be kept but not all people make them with the intention of doing so and some are unable to even if they wish to do so."

"And you?" Daichi glanced away from the plait entwined with blush shaded blossoms rapidly forming to see Suga's intent gaze on him, "What about you?"

"I..." Daichi met hazel eyes steadily, "I do not make vows lightly, nor do I make ones I do not think I can keep."

This time, he was able to see Suga's expression morph into a pensive one, watched hazel eyes grow darker and his mouth tighten just an iota at the corners. 

Over the last couple of days, he'd caught a similar countenance on Suga's face, one that seemed as though he were weighing something, judging and deciding, thoughtful and concerned all at once. 

Almost immediately, he would spring back into the perpetual exuberance that he seemed to embody when with Daichi. 

Without warning, Suga rose up, supporting himself with one hand, and twisted to face Daichi. At this point, he was close enough that each breath had his chest grazing Daichi's bicep and when Daichi turned to lock eyes with him, he was thoroughly unprepared for the depths of those hazel eyes. 

When Daichi had first arrived on the mountain, he had believed that the glorious greenery was possibly the most magnificent thing he had ever seen. But drowning in an ocean of piercing emerald with edges of brown, Daichi swiftly retracted that thought. 

This irrationally gorgeous being was far more enthralling than all of the forests in the land put together and despite Daichi's good sense telling him to get a hold of himself, he allowed his eyes to flicker to lips that were tantalisingly close. 

"May I?" He asked quietly. 

Suga's inhale was matched by a half raise of an eyebrow as he registered surprise before a full transition to a smouldering intensity that drew Daichi in as much as it overwhelmed him. 

Anchoring his fingers in the grass, afraid to touch and take more than he was allowed, Daichi closed the distance at a deliberate pace, waiting for Suga to pull away or stop him. 

He paused again when their noses brushed and for an instant that was reminiscent to the first gasp a swimmer takes when emerging from the water, he rested his forehead against Suga's. 

Every emotion that had arisen since he met Suga seemed to be a typhoon in his chest, in his lungs, in his stomach - everything was amok. He had never known emotion to be like this, had never felt so entirely at the mercy of his own heart. His entire life had been set to the cadence of society's expectations, of what he should and should not do, of what he thought was best. But this? This went against everything he knew, everything his mind could possibly reason. And yet, he had never been so alive, he had never wanted anything more and nothing had ever prepared him for the way this capricious, incomprehensible, exquisite being made him feel. 

He nearly lost his balance when Suga jerked sharply away and in horrified confusion, Daichi thought he had overstepped until he saw the way Suga's pupils had constricted and his eyes darted, tense and searching. 

Instantly, Daichi was on his guard and the _katana_ that had been lying beside him appeared in his grip, held in a defensive position. Even while in the thick of the forest, when every snap and rustle could have been a threat, Suga had always remained relaxed. 

Seeing that Suga was visibly distressed, Daichi braced himself for the worst even while he watched Suga's features grow even more ethereal with breathless wonder. Someone tutted behind them and both spun to face a tall creature with a razor sharp smile. 

"Koushi, Koushi, Koushi," The newcomer had a voice that was smooth and clear, not unlike the water that came from freshly thawed mountain ice, "So this is where you've been hiding. Here I was worried that something had gone wrong but instead you've been frolicking with humans."

The speaker was unspeakably beautiful in a flawless, intimidating sort of way. Bewitching tawny eyes flashed gold and luscious waves of chestnut framed a perfect face. Where Suga's beauty was akin to a warm summer breeze, mesmerising and reassuring in turn, the stranger's beauty was comparable to a free fall off a mountain ridge, terrifying and exhilarating all at once. 

A weaker man's knees may have buckled but Daichi merely shifted so that he was directly in the other _yokai'_s line of sight, effectively blocking Suga. 

"Do you know what I can do to you, human?" The stranger drawled. 

"I do," Daichi replied levelly as he calmly assumed a loose fighting stance. Amber eyes widened fractionally before they snapped to Suga with a measure of shock and glee. 

"You told him?" 

Daichi assumed that Suga must have made some gesture of affirmation because he was fixed with an appraising glare. 

"You are aware that either of us could extinguish you without so much batting an eye and you still choose to place yourself between us? I cannot tell if you are foolish or brave, samurai."

"No one is extinguishing anyone, Tooru," Suga stepped out beside Daichi with that unyielding statement. In the span of that sentence, Suga had metamorphosed into a version of himself that Daichi hardly recognised. Blazing eyes were emphasised by dark vines that ran across pale skin, crisscrossing down his neck and he gave off sheer power in waves. 

As if in response, Tooru's smile curled into something frighteningly saccharine as the trees behind him erupted into unmatched growth, materialising into a wooden wall behind him. 

Almost instantaneously, a series of sturdy vines burst from the ground at Daichi's feet to weave themselves into a thick barrier that cut Tooru out of view. 

"You know that nothing good comes from fratenizing," he heard Tooru seethe. 

"And what exactly do you call your little trips out to meet that _mizuchi_ of yours?" Suga rebutted in a pointed tone, although his voice remained airy, as though they were merely discussing the weather. 

"Do _not_," Tooru's voice swiftly turned frigid, "That's different and you know it."

"Hajime, was it?" Suga dropped the flippant tone in favour of one that was forbidding, a barely restrained force veiled by the gentle delivery, "I’ll leave you to your business if you leave me to mine."

By the time Daichi had navigated out of the natural shield that Suga had enacted, both of them were glowering at each other, although Tooru’s massive trees were rapidly returning to regular form and Suga’s vines began to retreat into the ground. 

“Nothing comes without a price,” Tooru warned. Daichi started to say that he had been cautioned on this aspect on prior occasions, but stopped himself when he realised that Tooru had been directing it at Suga instead. 

“I am aware,” Suga threw out in an off-handed manner, “Are you?”

To his ultimate surprise, Tooru huffed, promptly becoming more of an exasperated child that reminded Daichi of his younger sister than a powerful being of myth. 

“Koushi, you know I’m only looking out for you,” Tooru pouted, “Be careful and don’t come crying to me if things don’t go the way you hope.” He stalked off without waiting for a response, sprays of buds blooming in his wake and leaving a trail of colourful petals.

“I could say the same,” Suga called after the receding back, mouth tugging at the corners as he faced Daichi. 

“Are you alright?” 

“I think I ought to be asking you instead,” Daichi rubbed the back of his neck as he put his _katana_ away, “Friend of yours?”

Suga sighed, smile turning wry as he nodded. 

“He means well, he’s just not so good at expressing it,” The curve of Suga’s lips gave way to a full grin. 

“He called you something,” Daichi replayed the exchange in his head, “Is Suga not your name?”

Suga gave Daichi an odd look, mouth opening and closing a few times.

“You could have been killed just then and _that’s_ your most pressing concern?”

“Well, I didn’t die,” Daichi pinned Suga with an expression so genuine that it knocked the wind out of the _kodama_’s lungs, “Besides, I think I have excellent priorities.”

“There are many names for me, mostly assigned by humans,” Suga explained, “Suga, Sugawara, _yokai_.” He shot Daichi a teasing smirk. 

“It all depends on who they perceive me to me, what they need from me, and what they would like to see or believe,” Suga concluded, fingers fiddling with a long and flat stalk of grass.

“What about when there’s no one around? No one to demand your existence? Who are you?” Daichi pressed.

“Just Koushi,” A slow, lambent smile spread across Suga’s face. Daichi made the mistake of looking directly into Suga’s eyes just then, and felt his breath catch as he found flecks of brown amidst green, “Then I’m just me.”

“Do only _kodama_ get to call you that? Is it a code?” The words spilled from Daichi’s lips before he could stop himself.

The pause in which Suga spent considering this was suspended such that Daichi was able to chastise himself several times over within it.

"Koushi is my true name," Suga said slowly, eyes drifting up to meet Daichi’s, "Tooru uses it because we are essentially kin and in this world, that is who we can trust instinctively and implicitly, who can completely understand each other and who will always be a source of solace."

As Daichi mulled over this, Suga straightened and cast a glance out across the treetops. 

"You should begin your journey, for the sun will set in due time and if you leave any later, you may be caught midway when night falls," He instructed Daichi. Part of the samurai wanted to damn it all, to stay just another night, another day. But the thought of his family and his people anchored him back to reality and without a word, he began packing the small sack he had carried up with him. 

The air was still by the time Daichi took his first steps down, away from Suga, and the leaves remained motionless and drooping, as though mirroring the weight in Daichi's heart. 

He made it several paces down before he succumbed to the urge to turn and there Suga was, rooted and smiling gently. Much like the first time they had met, rays brushed the _kodama_'s face, tracing the delicate features that Daichi had involuntarily committed to heart and, at the same time, transforming him in a beacon, blazing and blinding all at once. 

"Will I see you again?" Daichi let his voice traverse the distance his body could not. 

"If you promise to," Suga's voice was an aural assurance, a lifeline that Daichi reached for and held on to. 

"Then I do," Daichi vowed, voice strong and determination even more so.

Even with the dazzling afternoon sun illuminating Suga's face, Daichi could see the radiant grin brighten his face in response. 

Swinging back around and setting off with purpose, Daichi thought that he could hear another kind of answer that was breathed through the forest, that echoed in the streams and was sung by the birds. 

_So be it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Mizuchi _ \- A dragon type of deity associated with the water, something like a water spirit.


	5. Challenge Me

You must have gone mad," Tooru hissed, his gaze sweeping in the vague direction of where Koushi was perched on a branch. He could make out the corner of a pale bit of fabric flapping in the wind and assumed Koushi was attached to the other end of it. 

True enough, the top of Koushi's head peeked out from a gap in the branches, light brown eyes dancing. 

"Don't be jealous, Tooru," He said airily before retreating upwards again. With a frustrated sound, Tooru launched himself to the same branch, landing so daintily that only a single leaf floated its way to the forest floor. 

"I am not being jealous, don't be so deliberately obtuse, you know exactly what I'm being," Tooru continued in a furious whisper, as though afraid of being overheard despite the fact that the forest was silent save for them and the birds chirping.

"Yes, I know," Koushi answered pertly, "You're being cranky because your _mizuchi _had to go away to attend to something and you miss him."

Tooru let out a half strangled cry of exasperation at the same time that smaller buds burst from the branch, growing fast enough to unseat a person. As though anticipating it, Koushi had long descended in a flourish of silver and fabric, and was sitting astride a lower, albeit more narrow branch. 

"Koushi, I'm serious, you know humans aren't supposed to hold this kind of knowledge," Tooru's eyes were wide with a mixture of concern and chiding. 

"Knowledge? That we exist? Or how to bring life back into their fields?" Koushi was looking out into what seemed like acres of endless wood, but Tooru knew that it was in the exact direction of the village, of the house that the human lived in, of _him_. 

"Both," Tooru gave up chasing and rested his chin on his hand, draping himself across bark and leaf and blossom, "If they find out that there is a rogue human out there who could pose a threat to us..."

"They will not," Koushi stated firmly, "Besides, Daichi isn't a rogue human, he is the last person I expect go around spreading this. And now that I have told him, I can not easily un-tell him."

"You didn't even make a proper deal. You know it is meant to be an equal exchange but you gave without taking and without even an attempt to negotiate a good bargain for us," Tooru pointed out, but there was no real malice behind the words, Koushi knew that the other _kodama _was simply worried. 

"I couldn't," Koushi said simply, "I couldn't kill him and I couldn't keep him. Not when he's so full of good and so full of life and everything that a human shouldn't be. And he won't go insane. Probably." 

Tooru sighed, he had known going into this that he would likely be unable to win, but at least he had tried. 

"Just make sure that they don't find out," he warned for the last time before slipping off into the underbrush and vanishing into the green. 

Koushi let out a weighted breath that could have been a sigh if someone were here to accuse him of it. But as far as he was concerned, there would be no hankering after a samurai, a human. He leaned his head against the comforting immensity of the sturdy wood at his back and closed his eyes, wondering if he opened them at the right time, he would find himself back in Daichi's lap, staring up at a reassuring face and kind eyes that were illuminated by amber hues. 

He jerked away from the trunk, irascible and restless before the seedlings of an idea began to curl upward. _You couldn't long for someone you didn't miss. _

\---

_"Are you bound to a specific tree? Or to this mountain?"_

_Wordlessly, Suga stood and Daichi followed without question. It honestly felt as though they walked in circles for a while, but Suga, as usual, strode on unhesitatingly until they reached a looming cedar tree. Daichi hesitated to call it a tree when its behemoth structure warranted something far more... Regal. _

_"This is my favourite tree to stay in," The kodama announced, as though introducing his pet puppy instead of a gargantuan natural structure. _

_"But I can go anywhere, be it this mountain or any other. As long as there is earth and there are trees, I am free to choose."_

_"Then have you not considered leaving? How long have you been here?" Daichi asked, there was so much to know about Suga and their time together was trickling from the gaps in his fingers regardless of how much he tried to stop it. _

_"So many questions," Suga laughed and Daichi felt his ears go hot, "I've been on this particular mountain for fifteen summers," His expression softened, "I was meant to be passing through but-"_

_Cutting himself off, Suga blinked and looked surprised for an instant before the mirth flooded back into his features. _

_"But then I found that this place has much to offer and to discover, and so Tooru came over instead. I met several others who had been here for eons, but they were in the process of moving on as I arrived."_

_"Does this mean that," Daichi swallowed, suddenly afraid of what he was about to ask and even more reluctant to hear the answer, "That you may leave any time?"_

_Suga's eyes were downcast, watching the dew on a blade of grass mosey down and percolate into the soil, so Daichi failed to see how they darkened before mellowing into a solid green rimmed with bronze. _

_"I may," Suga stroked the velvety surface of a leaf before blinking up, all warmth and fondness, "But I do not think I would. Not yet, not now."_

\----

Daichi had probably gone mad.

He surveyed the verdant field; in the turn of the seasons, his crops had begun to thrive and his people had hope of seeing this winter out. 

There. He thought he caught sight of a silver flash and felt his neck protest as he whipped around, only to be presented with endless stalks of grain that waved in the wind. Raking a shaky hand through his dark hair, he sighed deep and heavy, letting the disappointment out before squaring his shoulders.

Villagers had hailed him their saviour, the mamas inviting him in for a cup of tea and to introduce their daughters while the men offered low bows and listened attentively to his instructions. 

His father had given a proud speech at dinner a couple of nights ago and he had suddenly become more than the wounded samurai, he had risen to become the one who had miraculously averted a famine. 

It was probably what he had desired when he hauled himself up the mountain, something he thought would give him purpose or fill him with a sense of achievement. Yet, now that it had worked, now that he knew it was not him but someone with sharp wit and a soft laugh that was behind this, he did not want it any longer. 

He had it, everything going according to plan, and instead, he felt emptier than ever. More than anything, he didn't want to be here, wreathed in praises and basking in his glory, he wanted to be there, watching the afternoon diffuse into evening into night. He had gone mad, he concluded, completely berserk. 

It had been two months since he had gone up the mountain and when he descended, everyone who saw him had initially let out a cry of shock, for he had been taken for dead. His younger sister, Mume, had only lasted a short but valiant battle to remain composed before flinging herself into his arms and clinging to him, her tears soaking into his shoulder. 

His head housekeeper had explained that once he failed to return after two days, they had assumed the worst and she had subsequently subjected him to a stringent examination as though suspicious that he had been possessed by some demon or the other. 

He bore it all with studied patience and the flickering image of Suga's laughing countenance constantly at the forefront of his mind, in the way others kept tiny portraits of their loved ones on hand to glance at when apart. A mental keepsake was all he had of Suga, but it was real enough for him.

The most difficult aspect of his return was convincing his father to agree to his plan; after all, they only had one chance left and Sawamura-san was highly reluctant to squander it on his son's ravings about shrines and offerings and such. 

It was only after Daichi had drawn up a multi-pronged approach that involved sourcing for alternative sustenance, trading with neighbouring holdings and so on, that he relented and Daichi was free to begin the second phase. 

Immediately, he ran into another obstacle when faced with skeptical villagers and unwilling workers. They were faced with starvation and a crazed noble wanted to build shrines and hold festivals? 

There were days in which Daichi felt as though he couldn't breathe, as though the well-built infrastructure of his land was slowly closing in and caving on him, along with the clamour of questions and an endless flux of people waiting for him to make a decision or give an order. 

Those nights found him a ways up the mountain, far enough from his lands that he briefly considered not stopping, pressing on to reach the crest by morning. But he remained, head resting against the comforting gravity of a tree, breathing in the various scents of the wild and listening to the crickets, wondering if he strained hard enough he would catch the faint notes of a familiar voice. 

\----

_"If, as you say, everyone knew that this mountain was full of the strange, why did anybody allow you to make the journey up?"_

_"I snuck off," Daichi admitted, "Only two people knew that I left."_

_"And they saw fit not to stop you?"_

_"Well, my housekeeper only warned me again, but she couldn't have prevented me from leaving if that's what I truly wanted. And my father, he thought it best that I go."_

_"Even though he knew you might not return?"_

_There was an ugly silence in which Daichi formulated and discarded many variations of explanations. _

_"I am no longer suitable to be a samurai," Daichi thought saying this would hurt more, but if anything, the sensation was akin to pulling a barb out of a wound so that it could close, "I was crippled in the war, my leg- I will not be good for much else, so I suppose my father thought this was an honourable undertaking for me."_

_When Daichi gathered the nerve to chance a look at Suga, he saw cold fury in the sharpening of his face and the beginnings of vine-like markings creep up the kodama's cheekbones. It was stunning and terrifying all at once, making Daichi's heart skip a beat for reasons he could not place. _

_"He does not deserve you," Suga's voice was laced with barely suppressed anger, "None of them do."_

_A fair hand with tendrils and leaves detailing it rested upon Daichi's bad leg despite Daichi not having indicated which one it was and involuntarily, he released a short, pained sob of an exhale. _

_Around the severed and scarred tendons of Daichi's knee, the hand tightened._

\---

Daichi wiped the sweat from his brow and took a swig of water, partly thankful for the blazing sun that would nurture his crops and mostly cursing the heat that had him discarding most of his clothes as the other farmers did. 

One of the ways in which Daichi had gotten the support and assistance of the villagers was by wading into the thick of the hard work and leading by example. He had worked late into the night for materials to build shrines, knocked on doors to ask for reinforcements and slogged it out in the fields, just like every other villager. 

He had learnt how to cook offerings and festival delicacies, patched up leaks and carried heavy stones. 

Through all of it, Suga had been a constant. 

In fact, he was quite convinced that he had lost his mind because of how his thoughts had become thoroughly dominated by the spirit. 

When they had completed their first shrine, Daichi had looked over the masses that had come to pay respects after working all day, and his heart had stopped when he glimpsed a familiar profile. 

His vision blurred at the edges as he focused hard on the figure, pushing through the crowd and refusing to tear his eyes off him even as the fading daylight threatened to envelope the scene. 

When he arrived at the spot, there was nothing, or at least, nothing that he had imagined he had seen, only the neat thronging of his people and the distant ring of bells. 

Another occasion had him nearly dropping an enormous slab of rock on his own foot when he discerned a gleaming pair of hazel eyes within the leafy confines of a large tree. Common sense dictated that he pay utmost attention to the task at hand, lest he endanger himself or his moving partner, but Daichi’s gaze lingered desperately on a face he couldn’t fully perceive until he wrenched it away at the last possible moment. 

He had even thought he saw a brief smile before he turned away, but by the time he hurried back to that spot, the branches were empty save for the rich, green leaves. 

Even in his own home, he had imagined he heard the low murmurs in recognisable tones coming from his sister’s room, but when he had yanked the sliding door open, nearly ripping the translucent paper of the door in his haste, Mume was alone and giggling to herself. Daichi had sagged, fingers trailing down the fragile material before treading over and patting her on the head. 

Then he had stilled. Because scattered across the padded flooring in front of her were flower chains and stray petals in a shade of pink that he knew, had affixed a specific memory to and that could not be confused with any other. 

His nights were perfumed with the assuring scent of cedar and whether he dreamed or he hoped, hallucinated or imagined, he would hear it. In the same languorous voice, rolling the way a drop of water slips down a perfect, creamy cheek.

_Daichi._

“Daichi.”

Daichi whirled, dropping his tools as he sought the source of the sound in the fields, ignoring the way the sun beat down on his shoulders and shielding his face so that he could see better. Spotting a pale fern clad figure, his heart leaped even as the air fled his lungs. 

From the tree that he had been propped up against, Suga raised a hand and waved. 


	6. Perhaps we could stay in this fashion

Daichi's legs jerked into a half step, wooden and uncoordinated as his heart lurched ahead of him, pulling onward to where Suga was. 

It took another clumsy jolt before Daichi was tumbling over himself, cursing his bad leg as he discarded his last tool in the grass and ran. 

Or tried to at least. The months of building and plowing had made him stronger than ever, but an old wound was still a wound. He began with a trot, then throwing dignity to the wind along with all reason, broke into a slightly unbalanced jog that favoured his injured leg. Around him, workers carried on, eager to finish and get home, uncaring that their young lord had decided to take his leave in an urgent manner or if he had simply lost it and sprung for the hills. 

Only a handful raised their heads to watch as the third son raced across the plantation grounds, sunlight bouncing off gleaming, sweaty, tan skin, and Daichi, breathless more with the anticipation than the exertion, drew close to a smiling Suga. 

He could see the faint summer breeze ruffle light hair and even without that distinctive trait, he would know the figure anywhere, would recognise the tilt of that head, the glow of that smile. 

And he watched, aghast, in the last several strides that would have taken him there, as the wind collected all those features in a gentle gust. Feeling the back of his throat close up, Daichi arrived just as the silhouette fragmented into a flurry of leaves and petals that were cycled upward and away. 

Thrusting a desperate hand upward, his fingers closed on nothing more than air and a single, pale pink petal. 

\---

_"He's in danger." _

_Daichi spun in a circle, struggling to locate the voice that tickled at the back of his mind._

_"He's in danger and so are you."_

_The fog thinned enough for Daichi to orient himself and he found himself somewhere resembling the clearing that he had last seen Suga in, all those months ago. _

_Stepping out of the mist-like shroud, the speaker looked immaculately divine and yet, the slightest bit worn. _

_"Tooru?" Daichi squinted. Tooru seemed to throw a disdainful glance over before promenading over to the edges of the cliff, almost disappearing from sight. _

_"You both are fools. I'm only trying you because that imbecile is not heeding my words," Tooru appeared to grow in height and presence. The sense of power that diffused from him threatened to overwhelm and drown Daichi, "The mountain god will discover what he has done for you and then you will both suffer his wrath. It is only a matter of time."_

_As Tooru vanished into the mist, Daichi started forward, mouth open with questions overflowing and woke with a jerk, hand stretched above him as though still reaching for the dream figure that he sought. _

_He buried his face in his hands, only looking up when something fell from his hair, shaken loose by his movement. Illuminated by the moonlight, a limp leaf, yellowing at the edges sat in his palm. _

\--- 

Light. Although the evening was drawing near, the colourful lanterns and lamps that lined the streets fended off the edges of twilight. The village was awash with colour and cheer, with a smorgasbord of food and a myriad of activities laid out. 

At Daichi's behest, the village was holding a festival for the summer equinox and to give further thanks to that which had given their crops life. 

With the Sawamuras' backing, their people had gone all out and there were tables of summer snacks being sold, games to be played and small handcrafted wares for purchase. It had been a day of rest and preparation, and it showed in the liveliness of the atmosphere, with laughter filling the air and the shouts of children ringing out occasionally. 

Daichi strolled along the fringes of the festive area, hardly registering the scene other than the muffled noise that it emanated. He had done his checks earlier in the day and was satisfied with it, leaving his family to make their own rounds and bask in the ambience. 

Beside him, the rich, sweet aroma of roasting chestnuts and sweet potatoes wafted from where several were being grilled. Inhaling deeply, Daichi reminded himself that he should be focused on living here, that it would make no sense to dwell on what had happened in the mountainside, that he needed to gather himself in order to keep going. _Toward what? _

Painfully, the way it is to pry a scab from a cut that has not yet healed, Daichi wrested his thoughts away from Suga and stepped decisively into a bustling lane, finding a faint smile on his lips as laughter infused the air and bright chatter followed. 

He nodded to a few farmhands who were now manning a game stall and awkwardly waved off another's attempts to push free wine on him. Chuckling, he extracted himself and then held back a step as two children dodged past him, shrieking in glee. 

Looking up, the world slowed as his gaze foundered on the very person he had just firmly put aside. There, in the middle of the alley, resplendent and with those smiling hazel eyes, was Suga. 

Time seemed to trickle around Daichi as he took the other in, emotions brawling within, demanding to be felt. Though normally clad in pale green, tonight's Suga was in robes of the most exquisite blue, ornate and far too extravagant for even someone of Daichi's standing to own. 

Daichi straightened, a samurai's excellent posture taking over as he pulled shoulders back and lifted his chin. Then he walked directly past the spirit, holding his breath and waiting, waiting, waiting for the instant that Suga would crumble to nothing but flora. 

He was prepared this time, had braced himself with disappointment in the set of his brows and the press of his lips. He was, however, not at all prepared for a hand to shoot out and clasp his wrist, loose in its grasp but warm and_ real_. 

Staring at where Suga's hand had to be underneath the sleeves of Daichi's _hitatare_, he traced it to its owner, dumbfounded and reeling. 

"Do you not know me?" Suga asked, as gentle as a leaf settling on the surface of water with the barest ripple.

Daichi faltered as his feelings staged a revolution, tearing down his reason and engulfing him with the staggering desire to reach for Suga and pull him into an embrace, to hold him and talk him out of disappearing again, to beg for him not to go somewhere Daichi could not follow. 

“Are you real?” Daichi wheezed, “If you are not, I implore you not to give me any more false hope.”

Suga’s eyes softened infinitesimally before he pulled closer and ran a single finger down the line of Daichi’s jaw.

“Real enough for you?” He teased as Daichi’s entire body flared. 

"What-" Daichi stopped to clear his throat and tried again, "What are you doing here?"

"You vowed that we would meet again," Suga's eyes were dancing, "All I'm doing is making sure that you do not break your promise."

_Haven't I been seeing you?_ Daichi wanted to ask. 

"It feels as though every day that I do not keep that promise is torture. Have you been punishing me? Or is being apart from you simply that painful?" Was what came out instead. 

Suga stared at him, surprise lifting his brows and the beginnings of delight tugging at his lips while Daichi fought the urge to exile his tongue for being so brutally honest. 

Belatedly, he remembered where they were and he glanced around with some concern. 

"Are you- Can they see you? How are you here?" He asked, suddenly struck by the possibility that people might see the young Sawamura talking to himself on a busy street. 

"Only those who want to," Suga replied, waving to a small boy who shyly bowed back as his mother led the way toward a pottery stall. 

Up close, Daichi could see the elaborate design of Suga's outfit even in the dying rays of the sunset. Rich blue shot with silver that highlighted his ethereal features and emphasised his moonlit hair. The material itself was soft and clearly high in caliber, sighing every time Suga took a step and falling over his lean frame just right. 

Just as those around him, Daichi included, had put on their best clothes for the festival, Daichi had the hunch that Suga had come for a specific purpose but exactly what, he failed to fathom. Questions bubbled to Daichi's lips and clung there, on the verge of falling out. 

"Are you here for the festival?" He blurted, then felt like hitting himself because surely a _kodama_ had more important things than a measly human festival to think about.

To his surprise, Suga grinned, instantly putting all of the festival’s beautiful decorations to shame. 

“Show me around?”

So he did. Watched as Suga’s eyes teared and then went enraptured as he tasted a spicy specialty of his town, one that made Daichi’s entire mouth burn. He trailed behind a fascinated Suga as the _kodama_ made it a point to touch all the handicrafts they passed, eyes wide and wondering as he marvelled at the tiny figurines detailed with fine touches and the soft woven mats. 

They stopped for quite a while to watch an elder do elegant strokes of calligraphy with absolute control and grace. Initially, Daichi had assumed that Suga was intrigued by the writing aspect, however, the _kodama_ had carefully rubbed a part of the parchment between thumb and forefinger before nodding pensively and walking away. 

The villagers were thrilled that Daichi came by to play a few games, gathering round to cheer him on as he tried his hand at things that he hadn’t played since he was a child. But with Suga beside him, excited and starry-eyed, it was reminiscent of Daichi’s most carefree days. So intent was he on committing every single charmed expression on Suga’s face to memory that he missed the whispered gossip of the villagers who had never seen this Sawamura smile so much in a long time. 

By late evening, they had wandered far from the village, munching on candied nuts and sweet plums as they settled beneath a wide tree at the base of the mountain, resting in the undrawn border between Suga’s home and Daichi’s. There, Daichi imagined that if he tried hard enough, he could believe that they were suspended in a timeless frame, some liminal space that allowed him to stay here with Suga indefinitely.

Under the cover of darkness, Daichi found the courage to pose the question he had withheld earlier.

“This robe,” He hedged, “Is it special? I’ve never seen you wear it before.”

“I suppose it’s special because we assign it meaning,” Suga hummed, “Now it is special because I have worn it to see you.”

“Oh, you- I meant-” Daichi flailed, not expecting such a frank and yet, convoluted response, “It seems to be of excellent quality,” He finished weakly. 

“Oh, it is,” In the shadows, Suga’s entire demeanour turned mischievous as he began undoing his obi, “Would you like to try it on?”

Daichi’s hands flew to catch Suga’s, making a rough estimate in the dark and colliding with cool knuckles and incredibly soft fabric.

“No! No, it’s fine,” He yelped, as Suga cackled. Suga’s robes whispered as he shifted closer, so close that Daichi felt the warm exhalation of the other when he spoke.

“Are you afraid of what you’ll find underneath?”

“I will never be afraid of you,” Daichi told him honestly, “I only fear myself, for I cannot trust myself when I’m around you.”

The hand that was in Daichi’s slipped from his grasp to cup his cheek as Suga leaned in and fit his lips flush against Daichi’s. For a beat, Daichi’s mind struggled to comprehend, to react, and then he was sweeping an arm out and cradling Suga to him in a bundle of silky material and pliant warmth. 

Daichi had known, had told Suga, that he had scarce control over himself around the _kodama_, but he was still surprised by his own boldness when he was the one to deepen the kiss, nipping at soft lips to elicit a gasp from Suga, his fingers taking the liberty to run through hair he knew looked like liquid silver. 

Suga’s other hand took a path across his chest, over a broad shoulder to graze over Daichi’s neck and there it rested, nails gently scraping the sensitive skin at the nape of Daichi’s neck as he reciprocated, lips moving in ways that had Daichi’s head spinning. He planted kisses down the length of Suga’s neck, savouring the cedar perfumed smoothness as he worshipped every exposed bit of skin until he got to a delicate collarbone. Resting his forehead against Suga’s shoulder, he nosed along the line of bone before summoning what was left of his restraint. Then, leaving a small kiss where he stopped, he tugged Suga’s stunning robes back into place, fingers lingering a little too long at times, but eventually managing to restore a semblance of order to the rumpled _kodama_. 

“Look,” Suga breathed, still folded into Daichi, the two tangled in a mess of coloured cloth and heated skin. 

A firefly had lit up near them, and as if by signal, tens of tiny floating lights appeared as Daichi gazed up in awe. The fireflies hovered and moved in steady patterns, filling the immediate area with a soft iridescence and giving the pair’s faces a luminescent quality. 

Slowly, reluctantly, Suga pulled away, releasing Daichi and drawing a deep breath. 

“The light from the fireflies will be sufficient for you to find your way home,” His hand stroked Daichi’s face before retreating into wide sleeves, “You should go now. Go.”

There was a measure of insistence in Suga’s tone had Daichi on his feet before he could stop himself, and yet, he could not bring himself to go. 

“Will I see you again?” He asked, a desperate note finding its way into his voice.

“Only if you promise to,” Though it was the same answer he had given all those months ago, Suga didn’t sound as certain as before, his pitch low and wavering. 

“Then I do,” Daichi swore, steady and hopeful, still giddy from the rush of how intoxicating Suga was. With one last glance back, he headed for home, his feet taking him in one direction while every fibre of his being yearned to go in another. 

About thirty paces away, he halted, heart thudding and the feel of Suga’s lips still a phantom weight on his. Then he whirled, tearing through the forest in the way he came from, feet moving faster than ever and still not fast enough. 

He skidded to a stop in front of the tree that he had left Suga, a few straggling fireflies floating about. 

But Suga was gone. 


	7. A Culmination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the last day so it's a free day, I thought I'd do a culmination of the past six days by throwing in all six prompts somewhere in this chapter.

It clicked into place as Daichi stepped through the threshold of his house after mulling over it the entire walk back. Dream condensed into memory which supported a conjecture which materialised into elucidation. 

_A sacrifice._

Sitting alone at his table in the pitch black, fear sank its claws into Daichi's heart as he strove to weigh the truth of Suga's statement from the scene playing in his memories. If he was right, then perhaps his dreams were no longer simply illusions to be waved away in the day, but a warning. 

The questions that Suga had posed, passed off in jest; the ominous words that Tooru had uttered; and the final tip off, a magnificent robe that was donned in preparation for something drastic, or something final. 

Unease pushed through logic and burrowed in, festering into a myriad of half conscious chimera as he dosed where he sat, his candle flickering out and dowsing the room in moving shadows. _Through the veil of closed lids he caught flashes of green, sparkling with dew in the sun and the telling lock of long silver hair. _

_He heard laughter, the indistinct swell and hum of conversation and suddenly, in perfect clarity, Suga's voice. _

_“I couldn’t. I couldn't kill him and I couldn't keep him.”_

_Another sound, a gasp, before the sky began to shrink and the creaking of wood surrounded Daichi. All he could see was a patch of blue sky that was being swallowed by the hard darkness. He was being compressed, impossibly so, and his breath came short, shorter still. Pushing desperately at the confines, all he felt was solid bark as he was encased in an unyielding prison, trapped in a massive tree._

_Darkness, in its most absolute form, so thick that it felt liquid, pouring into his lungs. What remained were the staccato of his breaths and the wild pounding of his heart before a single word was exhaled. _

_"Daichi."_

Only in the instance that he lurched awake did it register that he had not been Daichi in that dream sequence. He let out a distraught noise, knuckle pressed to mouth and fingers digging into flesh. No, in that unreal torment, he had been _Suga_. 

Everything after that seemed a blur. In the wee hours of the morning, he wrote a letter, neatly composed with shaking fingers. Placing it underneath his personal seal, he positioned it on his table, where it would be seen immediately upon walking into his quarters. 

He left the dagger that his father had gifted to him on his most recent birthday and in this manner, meticulously shed the layers of himself, putting his affairs in order with utmost detail even though what felt like his entire being was in utter disarray. 

As he worked, he reasoned, because although he was a man often led by passion and impulse, he followed through with an even determination that spoke of harmony between the heart and the mind. He was perfectly aware that what he was doing was insane, irreversible and so drastic that it would damn him the moment he set foot outside his holdings, but he was doing it nonetheless. 

One by one, he discarded the things that made him a samurai, the items that gave him status as a Sawamura, until he stood in simple clothing with a katana that he had earned from battle, until he was stripped down to the very essence of his being. And in that fashion, he pivoted and began a journey very different from the one he had embarked on months ago. 

Silent, purposeful strides took him out of his quarters, past the courtyard and along the sturdy wooden corridors. Abruptly, he halted outside thin doors as the immensity of his decision crashed down on him. _Mume. _He could readily give all of this up but the abject anguish of having to leave his younger sister behind nearly had him sinking to his knees in front of her room. 

The previous time he had left, similarly in the dead of the night, he had not bid farewell to her as although he had not been sure if he would return, he had intended to. This time, he imagined her despair, her sobs and very scarcely abandoned his plans. 

Her doors slid open and Daichi, from where he was rooted on the spot, found himself faced with Mume. Though only ten, she had been the sibling that Daichi understood the most, loved the most and now loathed to leave the most. She was also the most astute of them all, for with a single glance she comprehended the situation and with a mute gasp, she threw herself into a hug that Daichi caught and returned, his heart throbbing all the while. 

The true challenge, he realised in that agonizing instant, was not gathering the courage to leave this all behind, but to find it within himself to look at the apple of his eye and know that he would never see her grow up. 

He had crouched to embrace her and so, had assumed that the wetness he felt on his arms were her tears before recognising that it was him who was soundlessly weeping. 

When Mume pulled away, eyes shining but calm, it was she who wiped his face with her tiny, soft hands, patting his cheeks gently as though he were the child and not her. Words had started forming in Daichi’s throat, ones that meant to tell Mume he would stay if she asked, but her dulcet voice intercepted him. 

“You should go,” He stared at her, dumbfounded as she continued softly, “You are going to him, the silver haired boy, are you not?”

“I think he needs my help,” Daichi told her hoarsely, “If I go to him now, I might be able to save him, but Mume, I may not return this time.”

Although she had anticipated it, the confirmation from Daichi dealt a blow to her control and tears overflowed, spilling down in quick succession before she collected herself. 

“I think you need his saving as well,” She whispered, and when Daichi’s expression morphed into confusion, she managed a full-blown grin tinged with mischief, “I saw you both at the festival. He makes you smile like you used to, you don’t- you don’t smile that way after you came back.” 

Part of Daichi crumbled even as another was fortified, as though Mume’s words had patched up and formed a bridge across the gaping chasm that was leaving her. 

“Who’s going to braid your hair?” He smoothed a strand of inky black hair, mussed from sleep, and patted it into place.

They both smiled weakly at each other before hers brightened even more and she turned her head to show him proudly. There, a small plait had been done, albeit slightly messily, with a ribbon running through it and a very familiar flower tucked into the end of it. 

“You taught me how, remember? I’ve been practising,” She told him, eyes reassuring and serene. 

Daichi exhaled, heart aching but at peace now that Mume had given him her blessings. His chest was full of all the things he would never get to say, all the praise and advice and conversations, the listening ear and the quick, knowing smirks exchanged across the room at an event. They cemented in his chest, remained stoppered up there as he pressed a fierce kiss to the top of her head, trying to convey all his love to her in that single gesture. 

Dredging up strength that he barely knew he had, he stood, turned away from his baby sister and walked out of his home and off his land. He didn't look back. 

His mind had long come to terms with what this would cost him and Mume had, in that intuitive way of hers, provided the assurance that his heart had needed to fully commit to what he was doing. 

The hike up to the mountain crest was drastically more difficult than before as he raced against time in the unlit undergrowth. Daichi was quickly streaked with sweat even though the air was cool and crisp, and his leg began to twinge in a warning manner. Nevertheless, he forced himself to keep moving, demanding his limbs to go faster than ever as he tripped over roots and struggled over rocky portions, hands scrabbling over bark for purchase and feet sliding in damp soil. 

Pausing to get his bearings, every laboured breath had him tasting the rich air, spicy with perfume from plants that came to life at night. He rested his hands on his hips, straining his eyes in the dim moonlight in a bid to orientate himself, but to no avail. In the dark, the trees all looked the same, and Daichi's heart hammered at the thought of having to wait till morning to get to Suga.

A cricket chirped and Daichi instinctively looked in that direction, hardly registering that it was the first sound he had heard since he entered the forest. Where he had whipped his head toward had him staring directly at a familiar marker and with relief, he hurried on. 

It was much later that he became cognisant of the strangest pattern that mirrored this first occurrence. In a forest that ought to be thrumming with night calls, it was eerily silent and the only exception to this was when Daichi seemed to have lost his way. At which point an owl would hoot, or some nocturnal creature or the other would make a sound and it was always that the direction it came from led Daichi back on track. 

Having met Suga, Daichi knew better than to discount this as coincidence and so, at every juncture, he bent into a small bow with a muttered thanks as he rushed onwards and upwards. 

Daichi staggered up to a blessedly familiar clearing just as the hints of dawn began to filter through the darkened sky, scattering shards of pale amber across the black velvet of the night. 

His lungs begged him to take a moment and his body was heavy with the burn of exertion, but Daichi only spared a brief instant to recall the exact route that Suga had shown him and then he was flying off into the wood. 

There was no guarantee that he would reach Suga this way, after all, it had been Suga who found him every time. But worry had bled into fear had crept into panic and finally culminated in frantic terror. 

In any other circumstance, Daichi would have laughed, for he had been fearless on the battlefield, unafraid of losing his life at any point and now, the thought of anything happening to Suga had him caving like melted butter on a hot summer's day. But he couldn't find it within himself to laugh at this point, not when his heart was wound into a tight ball of anxiety and uncertainty, about to beat out of his chest. 

His bad leg threatened to give out, an insistent pain twanging through, but the thought of Suga, the memory of that awful dream, shoved it into the recesses of his mind and he sprinted on. 

Just when he thought his leg might actually fail him, he spied it, the enormous cedar tree that Suga had once so cheerily introduced. Spurred by the end in sight, Daichi threw himself into the final dash, chest on fire and sweat dripping into his eyes when he slammed into the solid bark, frighteningly reminiscent of the wooden enclosure he had felt in his dream. 

"Suga?" He called, unsure of how to proceed now that he had actually made it, "Suga!"

He eyed the trunk and rapped it urgently with his knuckles, hoping he hadn't been too late, that he was even in the right place. Searing pain gripped his leg as it chose that moment to succumb, and Daichi's knees hit the leaf-covered soil as he squeezed his eyes shut against the onslaught of debilitating pain. 

"Please, Suga," Daichi gasped, leaning his forehead against the tree, his face contorted with pain and coated with a layer of sweat and grime. 

"Daichi?" At the sound of his name, Daichi tried to pivot so fast he fell, shoulder knocking awkwardly against the tree and scar tissue seizing with remembered trauma. Looking up, he saw Suga, still in that brilliant robe and faintly illuminated by the first light of day. 

Through the cloud of discomfort, a distant part of Daichi registered how breathtakingly ravishing the _kodama_ looked and amidst the pain, something in him came undone.

Upon seeing Daichi, Suga's eyes widened, filling with alarm and concern as he dropped to his knees next to Daichi. His hands flew up, as though wanting to touch but then feathered around, unsure of where, before a look of comprehension crossed his profile and he settled light fingers over Daichi's hand where it was covering his scar. 

Whether it was pure luck or relief or something else, the pain began to dissipate and Daichi's breathing evened from the short, shallow gulps of air he had been taking. 

"What happened?" Suga asked urgently, worry marring his lovely face as he used a sleeve of that stupendous robe to wipe Daichi's face. Daichi caught ahold of Suga's wrist and curious hazel eyes slid to meet his in a gaze that made the air between them seem to vibrate. 

"I needed to make good on my promise," Daichi said faintly, striving for humour and winding up with a fair amount of grave ardor instead. 

At Suga's slight disbelieving look, he sighed and fixed the _kodama _with a stern expression. 

"You lied, didn't you?" Daichi felt Suga twitch slightly in his gentle grip, "The exchange for information? You were meant to take more than a day from me." 

"I don't know what you're speaking of," Suga said archly, yanking his arm away and sitting back on his heels. 

"Koushi," Daichi sighed as glimmering eyes flicked over to him sharply, "I am here as Daichi. I'm not a Sawamura and I'm not a samurai, I'm just me. I'm not your kin but I trust you implicitly. I don’t understand you nor myself completely, but I would like to, if you would let me. And I hope to be a source of solace, if you ever need me.”

Koushi blinked, a crease appearing between his brows as he struggled to parse Daichi's statement that echoed his explanation of his name.

"My life is my own and no one else's," Daichi continued, holding Koushi's gaze, "And now, I'm giving it to you." 

Daichi counted three breaths before Koushi let out a strangled sound. 

"What?" Koushi squawked, flitting through bafflement to border on indignation. He opened his mouth to protest but shut it abruptly when Daichi's face broke into a helpless, earnest smile, brown eyes tender and honest. 

"You asked me what I wished for, not for anyone else but for myself," Daichi reached out to rub a warm thumb over the curve of a fair cheek, just as he had dreamed of doing over nights and nights, "I know what I want. What I desire the most is you. It's you, safe and happy and just you. Only you." 

Daichi had expected to have to defend his stance, had braced himself for disappointment and steeled himself for rejection. But he had not anticipated Koushi’s stunned expression, lips parted and a shaken look in his eyes. Before Daichi knew it, fat drops plummeted to the ground, sprouting into white-petaled wildflowers where they fell. 

"How can I ask that of you?" Suga choked through tears, "How can I be so selfish?"

"It's because you do not, are not, that I'm giving it to you," Daichi brushed liquid tracks off that moon-like face. 

"You two are far too dramatic," A familiar voice cut through the haze of emotion, flat and sounding rather bored. 

The pair on the ground turned to look up to where an unimpressed Tooru was arranged on a branch above, silky brown locks tumbling over layers of cloth draped over sturdy wood. 

"Glad to see that one of you listens," Tooru announced nonchalantly with the most imperceptible nod at Daichi which Daichi returned with a miniscule incline of his head. 

Despite that, Koushi didn't miss the exchange and rising to lean up into Tooru's space, he rounded on the other _kodama_. 

"You! You led him here?" Koushi demanded, flushing with anger. 

"No, my dear Koushi," Tooru tutted, resting his cheek on the back of his hand and smile going coy, "You did."

As Koushi sputtered, Tooru blinked lazily, looking like an indolent cat. 

"Both of you are running in circles trying to protect each other but pining more than a pine tree, would you please do the rest of us a favour and just take each other away from here?"

"I couldn't ask him to leave everything he knows, everything he has and just up and disappear!" Koushi growled. 

"I already have," Daichi stated calmly, then with confusion, "Wait, does this mean no one has to die?" 

Both _kodama _stared at him, shocked into silence. 

"You thought Koushi was going to kill you to stay alive and you came?" The beginnings of a laugh seeped into Tooru's question. 

"Oh, Daichi," Koushi breathed, looking even more pained. 

"Well, it seemed that if he didn't take my life, then something would happen to him," Daichi explained uncomfortably, feeling slightly foolish, "Wasn't there a price to pay? If I didn't pay it, does that not mean he would have to pay on my account?"

"Imbeciles," Tooru gave up trying to smother his laughter and let it ring out, "Rather than take your life, he could simply have taken you _from _your life. Which is what you have conveniently done for him."

Koushi looked as though he were about to argue even more so Daichi staggered up, legs still weighted with exhaustion, and fought to stay tall. 

"Please, I can suffer anything but the thought of something happening to you."

Reluctance wrote itself on Koushi's face and anticipating his answer, Daichi rushed on. 

"I know I'm only a lowly human being and I know I'm being too forward, I apologise if I'm making you uncomfortable but please let me do this for you." 

Koushi's entire person immediately ratcheted into a frame of miffed dismay. 

"That's not what I- oh, Daichi, how can you be so guilelessly sweet?" The _kodama _stepped in close, fingertips skimming Daichi's hairline as he brushed sweat dampened strands away from anxious eyes. He cupped Daichi's face in cool hands, searching for a different answer and finding steadfast devotion and unyielding will. 

"I adore you," He told Daichi, "You are the most wonderful, unspoiled being I have ever had the fortune to encounter." 

Daichi's heart contracted and then set off in a racing pace that made his knees tremble. 

"This is all well and good, so let's just say you two disappear for a good number of years while the mountain god conveniently forgets about this entire fiasco and then you can come back or I will find you wherever you may be," Tooth announced from where he was lounging. 

"You may never see you family again," Koushi warned, his voice barely above a whisper, his breath breezing past Daichi's cheek, "We may never return."

“I do not have much to give, but whatever I do have, it’s yours if you would have it,” Daichi murmured, one hand reaching to clasp the cool fingers that had stilled on his jaw.

Koushi appeared to struggle with himself, warring emotions flashing through his expression, before he composed himself, a tiny resigned smile sitting upon his lips. As he peered into Daichi’s face, a radiance from within gradually spread throughout his features until the hesitance, guilt and uncertainty had been thoroughly replaced by sparkling happiness and unchecked adoration. 

“Well, then,” He hummed, gathering both of Daichi’s hands in between his, eyes soft and fond, “A place in which no one knows us, somewhere quiet, somewhere for just you and me. Will you come away with me?”

The forest around them seemed to fall into a lull, even the rays of the morning light appeared to pause in their dappling across the treetops as Daichi looked at Koushi. Koushi who was lovelier than the day they had met, who saw him for who he truly was not who he was meant to be, who had been willing to undertake an unthinkable punishment for his sake. 

Intertwining their fingers, Daichi tugged gently at Koushi as he took the lead for the first time since they met, toward a future he had never imagined he could have, they could have. For the very first time, he was looking upward, to the dawn infused sky, with Koushi’s hands in his. 

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, this was a crazy impulse piece that I had to write when I heard about daisugaweek2019, so this is not as well planned nor cleaned up as I hoped, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!

**Author's Note:**

> MY SOURCES ARE WIKIPEDIA I apologise if anything is wrong, please let me know if there are any glaring inaccuracies. 
> 
> Come yell at me on [tumblr](https://redroseinsanity.tumblr.com/)


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